Our annual Artistic Excellence competition drew more than 2,200 entries this year. The editorial team examined each of them carefully, asking ourselves a series of questions: What kind of impact does this piece have? Does it pack an emotional punch? Does it convey a strong sense of mood? Is it well designed, with an interesting composition? Is the drawing solid? Is the use of color sophisticated? After thoughtful consideration of all these points and more, we proudly present this year’s winners—three top awards and ten honorable mentions. We think you’ll agree that they are an impressive sampling from today’s representational art world.